


The Pettigrew Effect

by creatureofhobbit



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 05:29:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13874151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: Trapped inside his own mind and forced to hear his friends debate as to whether he was right to save Nora Darhk, Ray sees visions of various possible outcomes.





	The Pettigrew Effect

“What the hell did you let him go back there for?” Sara demanded. “It was Nora Darhk, for God’s sake.”

“It’s Haircut. That’s what he does. He always has to be a hero.” Mick growled.

“You know he’d have found it hard to live with himself if he hadn’t,” Nate cut in.

Ray could hear his friends talking around him, could hear Gideon giving updates on his medical condition which no one was really listening to because they were too busy arguing among themselves. He knew Nate was right; he would have struggled to deal with it if he had let Nora die without at least trying to save her, and yet a part of him wondered what would have happened if he had made the other decision…

 

_  
He’d grabbed the totem that Damien Darhk had so willingly handed over if it meant the choice between allowing his daughter to live or die, and then in the moment he’d turned and run, back to the Waverider without doing anything to save Nora after all. Amaya had just been so grateful to have it back that she hadn’t said anything about Nora. But Nate’s shock at the fact that he had chosen not to save Nora after all, or Mick’s comment that once upon a time he would have done the same thing, continued to haunt Ray, much as he tried not to let it._

_Sometimes the scene flashed before his eyes, where Nora would get up anyway and come running after him, choking the life out of him. Sometimes he’d imagine it was the young Nora Darhk, the one he’d taken to Jitters and talked about who would care for her now, lying there fallen, or he’d see himself back in Jitters and pulling the gun on her then._

_Ray hadn’t been meant to hear the conversation, but he’d heard Sara saying to Amaya and Zari one day that in the moment, when Nora Darhk was lying there dead, she’d suddenly wondered if she’d gone about things all wrong before, if killing Damien Darhk would never have brought her the satisfaction she craved, if taking Nora from him, the one person he truly loved, would have been a more effective punishment for killing Laurel, to make Darhk feel the same pain and loss she felt every day. “But now that it has happened, it doesn’t feel as good as I wondered if it might.”_

_It doesn’t feel good at all, Ray wanted to say. But he said nothing._

_One day they’d gone on what they thought would be a routine mission. Cleopatra had been spotted wandering around seventeenth century London, all they had to do was go in there, get her out and return her to her own time. Ray had thought nothing of it. He didn’t even worry when he found himself separated from everyone else, until he came to in some back alley to find Damien Darhk standing over him._

_“Sara was right, you know,” Darhk said. “Having to watch the one person you love most in the world die in front of you? A lot worse than being killed yourself. So if you were wondering why I haven’t killed you yet for killing my Nora, that’s why. So I brought you here, so you could watch your ship explode, taking away all your friends on there, and leaving you with no means of getting back to anyone you know and love back home. You’ve heard of the Great Fire of London, right? For years, that baker has taken the blame for what was all me, or more accurately, because of you. In about ten…nine…eight…”_

_Ray watched in horror as the Waverider exploded into a fireball in the sky._

_“Oops.” Darhk smirked. “I must have miscounted.”_

 

They were all still arguing when Ray awoke from his vision. Sara was telling Mick that he shouldn’t have let Ray go without at the very least letting her know, while Nate was still trying to defend Ray. Ray wanted to shout at them, to let them know he was okay, but found himself still trapped, powerless to act.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. There might come a time when it turns out it’s a good thing that Ray saved her life,” Nate pointed out. “When he’s glad he did it.”

“Like when Harry Potter saved the rat?” Mick asked.

Nate stared at him. “You’ve read Harry Potter?”

Zari grinned. “He’s read it, all right. You wanna see some of the things he’s written about it, too.”

“Zari…” Mick began, but was interrupted by Sara. “Never mind all that. Gideon, what update do you have on Ray’s condition?”

“Physically, Mr. Palmer seems to be recovering,” Gideon informed her. “As to why he has not yet woken up, I can only conclude that he is working through something inside his head.”

“Like me with the time loop?” Zari asked.

“Along those lines, Ms. Tomaz, although I did not create this. Once Mr. Palmer has worked things through, I anticipate he will make a full recovery.”

_For a moment Nora Darhk was that frightened little girl again, the one he had taken to Jitters. Ray saw everything in slow motion again, her recognising him, him thinking he got through to her, then her reaching out to choke him. Then he saw Nora again, pointing a gun at her father in some circumstance as yet unclear to him._

_“What does this mean?” he asked, not really expecting an answer, however, Gideon’s voice sounded in his head. “I am unable to answer that at this point in time, Mr. Palmer. This is merely one of many possible futures. However, this future of Nora Darhk turning on her father is only possible due to your actions in saving her. Mr. Heywood was correct; there is likely to come a time when you will be glad that you saved Miss Darhk’s life. If I was to send you back there now, and you had the chance to make that decision again, what would you do?”_

_“I’d still save her,” Ray replied, knowing it to be true._

“About time, Rip van Winkle,” Mick said when Ray finally opened his eyes. He knew he was in for a talking to from Sara about the way he had gone back there, but he was okay with that. Ray knew he had done the right thing, he knew it could work in their favour in the future, and that was what mattered.


End file.
